Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A Gleam In The Eye


Ever Active Imaginations.

Active Imaginations are what fuel the dreams, that breed enthusiasm which gives birth to activism.

One advantage of being old is that even with the dementia that accompanies it, compared to my youth I still have a vast wealth of experience to draw from. This experience tends to lead me into conservative directions. Winston Churchill was said to have proclaimed for example that; if you’re young and not liberal you have no heart, if your old and aren’t a conservative you have no brains.

Pretty grandiose thoughts that. I’d like to testify to both sentiments. Now as a conservative, in the “Country of Old men” the Republican party; I would like to share a combination of my memories of a more activist time and relate it to my current activist state in the conservative movement.

I always have been a diehard Star Trek fan. My attention was always grabbed when I heard the preamble to the show. The preamble was obviously popular as it survived with minor modifications into Star Trek the Next Generation. Even this Icon felt the weight of PC as it changed the words “No Man” to “No One”. Oh well, a minor point. The other modification for obvious reason was changeing “Five year mission” to “Continuing Mission”.

Here is the preamble.

“Space, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Star Ship Enterprise. It’s Continuing Mission; to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”

In this, my new age bracket that I’m going through, I have become consumed with a youthful vigor again. One part of this is manifested in trying to enthuse my local Republican Party; which by their demographics should mostly all remember the original Star Trek TV series.

One project through which I have been trying to do that has been the idea of revitalizing the concept of the Precinct Delegate in our local party. I have been trying to make it a viable and energetic force for change; it seems to me to be the perfect way to help us elect those who can make a change in government. I have heard lots of glorious talk of “reaching out” and “grass roots”, I’m sure you have too. I’m trying to hold them to the rhetoric. Myself included. Anyway.

I came up with a Parody of the Star Trek preamble and BTW I live in Muskegon County Michigan. Here it is.

Drumroll, as the camera passes by the rings of Saturn.

“Precinct Delegates, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Muskegon County Republican Party. It’s Continuing Mission; to explore strange new Precincts, to seek out new Precinct Delegates-and new voter blocks. To boldly go where no Republican has gone before."

At the expense of appearing less than humble, the joy I get out of my renewed activism, I gain inspiration for from that ever present gleam in Ronald Reagan’s eye which seemed to illuminate all he did such as signing that huge taxcut bill, or firing the Air Traffic Controllers or spliting wood. He too was no spring chicken at that time. He too was an activist in a liberal form in his youth. He too kept letting the Imagination fire the dream that fired the activism so easily found in youth, making it second nature in maturity. He just added the wisdom of age or as Churchill called it brains and became an activist Conservative.

So with a gleam in my eye and only less than the balance of my live to lose I embrace my rekindled enthusiasm for doing “good” in this world. When Scotty beams me up I want to stand tall and say I made a difference; I fought the good fight.

Regards, (ever) Live Dangerously Be A Conservative